WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:20.160 I want to thank everybody for attending this community event to advocate for medical marijuana 00:20.160 --> 00:23.280 patient rights in Washington State. 00:23.280 --> 00:27.900 The theme this afternoon is safe, affordable access for medical marijuana patients in Washington 00:27.900 --> 00:29.580 State. 00:29.580 --> 00:34.680 That might not mean the same thing to everybody, but all of our speakers today agree that patients 00:34.680 --> 00:38.080 will not be served by all of the recommendations that have been offered by the Washington State 00:38.080 --> 00:41.360 Liquor Control Work Group. 00:41.360 --> 00:51.180 It's not a simple thing to undo decades, almost a century of unjust, illogical drug policy. 00:51.180 --> 00:57.340 And we're not miracle workers, but it's been a year since the implementation of I-502, 00:57.340 --> 01:01.640 and we're hoping that we can find some common ground on this issue of patients' rights. 01:01.640 --> 01:06.400 Next I'm going to bring up Alex Cooley from Solstice and chair of the CCSE. 01:06.400 --> 01:07.400 Please give a warm hand. 01:07.400 --> 01:13.360 I want to speak to you today about some of the steps forward and what we're dealing with 01:13.360 --> 01:19.900 in regards to medical cannabis, not necessarily what I-502 brings to the state. 01:19.900 --> 01:26.000 My biggest concerns at this point in time are reliable, safe access, as well as patient 01:26.000 --> 01:28.160 cultivation. 01:28.160 --> 01:34.240 My biggest concerns are the proposed recommendations, as it is for many persons. 01:34.240 --> 01:41.420 First and foremost, for myself as a cultivator, as a businessperson, as well as a patient, 01:41.420 --> 01:48.400 my biggest concerns are with the recommendations of growth and possession. 01:48.400 --> 01:55.040 As described, it is to be six plants, three mature, three immature, and I am very much 01:55.040 --> 02:00.880 so about the math, and possession's amounts of three ounces does not equate to an appropriate 02:00.880 --> 02:03.160 60-day supply. 02:03.160 --> 02:08.980 As a perpetual cultivator, I know that with three flowering plants at one time, you can 02:08.980 --> 02:14.160 harvest three flowering plants in two months, which is a standard cycle, which will only 02:14.160 --> 02:22.000 yield a patient nine ounces in their 60-day period, which is a very far cry from what 02:22.000 --> 02:27.800 is currently allowed being 24 ounces, which some persons may even say is inappropriate 02:27.800 --> 02:38.560 and even low if you juice or you use infused products. 02:38.560 --> 02:44.760 What is even more of an egregious recommendation, given some people don't know how to do math 02:44.760 --> 02:49.920 and they don't know cultivation, and I understand that, is the taxes. 02:49.920 --> 02:54.400 These recommendations are to create a robust and regulated system, which I have been a 02:54.400 --> 02:57.800 proponent of my entire career. 02:57.800 --> 03:05.560 If we create a robust parallel or singular system, why is it we must tax patients with 03:05.560 --> 03:08.680 three tiers of 25% excise? 03:08.680 --> 03:10.640 It is completely inappropriate. 03:10.640 --> 03:13.880 Again, goes back to the inability to do math. 03:13.880 --> 03:15.760 You can back out taxes. 03:15.760 --> 03:21.480 You can make sure that patients are not paying tax, as it is with any pharmaceutical or recommended 03:21.480 --> 03:23.160 drug by a physician. 03:23.160 --> 03:28.480 I am prescribed Echinacea, other herbal drugs from Bastyr Center for Natural Health. 03:28.480 --> 03:29.960 I pay no taxes. 03:29.960 --> 03:36.760 It should be the same for medical cannabis. 03:36.760 --> 03:41.360 If we're truly going to treat this like a medicine, we should treat it like a medicine, 03:41.360 --> 03:44.080 and that is no taxes. 03:44.080 --> 03:47.240 I have been a huge proponent of taxes. 03:47.240 --> 03:53.560 My career, I pay city, state, federal, every single tax I can pay just to make myself more 03:53.560 --> 03:55.600 legitimate. 03:55.600 --> 04:00.360 But we are in an era of legitimacy for the cannabis plant, so let's treat it legitimately 04:00.360 --> 04:06.440 if it is a medicine, which is no tax. 04:06.440 --> 04:12.280 The other is something that I have been dealing with with the Liquor Control Board on I-502 04:12.280 --> 04:19.320 in general, but also understanding moving forward for transition, is that we have no 04:19.320 --> 04:25.760 appropriate way to transition current effective providers into whatever system may be regulated. 04:25.760 --> 04:29.800 There's a reason why Colorado allows medical persons first. 04:29.800 --> 04:34.080 So we need to understand a better transition program for current providers. 04:34.080 --> 04:36.920 The last is the next steps. 04:36.920 --> 04:40.760 There will be legislation based on these recommendations. 04:40.760 --> 04:46.680 It is our responsibility to put forth opposing regulation and opposing legislation in order 04:46.680 --> 04:51.600 to get an appropriately regulated system for medical cannabis patients, ones that they 04:51.600 --> 04:56.320 have truly deserved for such a long period of time and we came so close to having in 04:56.320 --> 04:57.880 2011. 04:57.880 --> 05:02.200 I thank all of you for all of your hard work, and I look forward to working with you in 05:02.200 --> 05:04.720 the coming legislative session and the coming years. 05:04.720 --> 05:05.720 Thank you so much. 05:05.720 --> 05:06.720 Thank you, Vivian. 05:06.720 --> 05:12.840 I love that you had the idea to bring all these people together today. 05:12.840 --> 05:14.560 I will apologize in advance. 05:14.560 --> 05:16.560 I'm going to have to leave in a few minutes. 05:16.560 --> 05:22.080 My mother is at Virginia Mason, one block from here, and we don't know if she's going 05:22.080 --> 05:26.680 to come out of the hospital alive, so I'm heading back there, but she's lived a very 05:26.680 --> 05:30.360 long and very good life. 05:30.360 --> 05:36.360 She's also had intractable pain very severely for many, many years, but I could not get 05:36.360 --> 05:42.040 past the stigma of using medical marijuana, so has not. 05:42.040 --> 05:49.480 I'm hoping that what we are able to achieve in this state will ensure that no one has 05:49.480 --> 05:59.240 to make that decision because there will be no more stigma for using medical marijuana. 05:59.240 --> 06:02.760 That's a process, but I am amazed at how far we've come. 06:02.760 --> 06:07.840 I started working on this issue with Joanna McKee in 1995. 06:07.840 --> 06:15.960 I have had bills almost every year since then and have tried very, very hard to ensure that 06:15.960 --> 06:23.480 legitimate, qualifying patients have access to a safe, reliable, secure source of their 06:23.480 --> 06:29.840 medicine, and that's what has been behind everything that I have done. 06:29.840 --> 06:36.880 I do know, however, that there is a lot of division in the medical marijuana communities, 06:36.880 --> 06:44.680 and I'm asking people to really do, as Ben mentioned, to come together and not make assumptions 06:44.680 --> 06:51.780 that people are evil or do not have the best interest of patients at heart when they have 06:51.780 --> 06:55.280 maybe some different ideas about what the best approach is. 06:55.280 --> 07:01.920 As a public policymaker, I have to also look at what's politically possible and make all 07:01.920 --> 07:08.960 the advances we can, but to be realistic about it, we have a 60-day, very short legislative 07:08.960 --> 07:10.220 session coming up. 07:10.220 --> 07:16.480 There will be a wide array of bills, I am sure, starting off with repealing all the 07:16.480 --> 07:25.240 medical marijuana statute because people don't need that anymore because of I-502 stores. 07:25.240 --> 07:26.960 Now I don't agree with that. 07:26.960 --> 07:36.000 I will be introducing legislation. 07:36.000 --> 07:41.920 I'm still working on it, but I do appreciate the recommendations for the most part that 07:41.920 --> 07:46.460 the Liquor Control Board came up with, not all of them, and I will have some differences 07:46.460 --> 07:48.120 in my legislation. 07:48.120 --> 07:54.560 I am pleased that they have now decided that Home Grows will be okay. 07:54.560 --> 07:57.360 I will have that in my legislation. 07:57.360 --> 08:03.960 I also believe, though, that we should have some group grows, smaller than exists now, 08:03.960 --> 08:06.080 but some small group grows. 08:06.080 --> 08:17.080 You will hear later on from Ryan Day, who is the father of a five-year-old little boy 08:17.080 --> 08:20.000 who has epileptic seizures. 08:20.000 --> 08:27.820 They have been able to find relief from his little son through marijuana usage rather 08:27.820 --> 08:30.480 than through prescribed medication. 08:30.480 --> 08:36.440 I want to do everything I can to make sure that his little boy is able to get the medication 08:36.440 --> 08:39.320 that benefits him. 08:39.320 --> 08:44.360 He may not, I'm not sure, may not want to Home Grow. 08:44.360 --> 08:49.960 Many parents do not when there are children at home, so they do need a designated provider. 08:49.960 --> 08:56.480 They can benefit from small group grows because so much experimentation has taken place and 08:56.480 --> 09:06.320 will continue to take place to come up with the right therapeutic amounts for these patients. 09:06.320 --> 09:09.240 Some patients will want to go to the I-502 stores. 09:09.240 --> 09:10.560 They will like the convenience. 09:10.560 --> 09:17.440 They will like the quality control assurance, but I think what we need to do is have some 09:17.440 --> 09:26.760 of an endorsement or certification on those I-502 stores that do choose to provide the 09:26.760 --> 09:33.600 strains and variety of medical marijuana for the individuals who come in. 09:33.600 --> 09:36.880 I think there should be a trained staff on board. 09:36.880 --> 09:44.520 I do think as well that we need to address the issues of distance from schools and playgrounds 09:44.520 --> 09:47.160 and other areas. 09:47.160 --> 09:54.800 It's not realistic in the city of Seattle to only have 21 I-502 stores, and I'm looking 09:54.800 --> 10:05.600 at pursuing having medical only I-502 stores be allowed and have extra amounts or extra 10:05.600 --> 10:14.880 stores, additional stores for those medical only ones based on need in the local jurisdiction. 10:14.880 --> 10:21.280 These would not have markings or signage, and I would like them to be able to be closer 10:21.280 --> 10:29.520 than 1,000 feet as one travels around freeways and around blocks, not as the crow flies, 10:29.520 --> 10:38.400 based on the federal sentencing guidelines rules that allow for or that do not allow 10:38.400 --> 10:47.280 for medical marijuana or any such drug from schools and playgrounds, but not transit stations 10:47.280 --> 10:50.840 and other areas that are included in I-502. 10:50.840 --> 10:54.240 We'd have to get a federal waiver for that. 10:54.240 --> 11:03.360 I also believe that patients should have arrest protection as well as an affirmative defense 11:03.360 --> 11:14.120 retention, arrest protection if they are able to have their medical health professional 11:14.120 --> 11:20.120 place their name on, not in a registry, we're working that out, but with the State Department 11:20.120 --> 11:27.840 of Health where a patient authorization card would be provided to the patient, to the designated 11:27.840 --> 11:33.640 provider, which would allow that home growing to take place, which would allow a complete 11:33.640 --> 11:41.080 tax exemption from the excise tax at the I-502 stores, and which would allow full arrest 11:41.080 --> 11:42.960 protection. 11:42.960 --> 11:46.400 So these are some of the things that I am looking at. 11:46.400 --> 11:53.120 I appreciate all of the assistance that so many of you have provided to me, and just 11:53.120 --> 12:02.160 in closing again, let's keep our eye on what we can gain and what we can do in preserving 12:02.160 --> 12:05.520 the rights that we have now for patients. 12:05.520 --> 12:11.960 Let's not attack people for bringing up some ideas that may be a little different than 12:11.960 --> 12:17.160 what you might think is appropriate, or we could end up with nothing. 12:17.160 --> 12:18.160 Thank you very much. 12:18.160 --> 12:25.320 Let's never, ever lose sight of what the enemy is, and that's prohibition. 12:25.320 --> 12:31.800 And let me just tell you how prohibition can, I promise you, in a very short order, raise 12:31.800 --> 12:33.920 its ugly head again. 12:33.920 --> 12:40.520 First of all, if you're waiting for Congress to act to modify the Controlled Substances 12:40.520 --> 12:47.160 Act to reschedule marijuana, you're going to be waiting a long, long time. 12:47.160 --> 12:52.120 They can't even balance the budget. 12:52.120 --> 12:53.200 How is it going to happen? 12:53.200 --> 12:55.900 It may happen here in Washington state. 12:55.900 --> 13:03.040 We already have some cities, unlike Seattle, that have said we want to ban not only 502 13:03.040 --> 13:05.240 facilities, but medical marijuana facilities. 13:05.240 --> 13:09.720 The city of Kent, the city of Yakima, Pierce County. 13:09.720 --> 13:12.360 And how about right here in King County? 13:12.360 --> 13:17.760 The NIMBYs were out in force, and they got the King County Council to say no processing 13:17.760 --> 13:20.120 plant in Redmond Ridge. 13:20.120 --> 13:22.480 That happened here in King County. 13:22.480 --> 13:27.960 And so if you want to spend time wondering who the enemy is, it's prohibition. 13:27.960 --> 13:35.160 It's losing the battle that we have won so far and recognizing that it's not over. 13:35.160 --> 13:42.160 What I want you to do is to think about how I-502 can be imperiled by division within 13:42.160 --> 13:48.520 the community and how the proponents of prohibition are clamoring for that division to stay alive 13:48.520 --> 13:50.600 and to keep fighting. 13:50.600 --> 13:53.400 They want you to fight with each other. 13:53.400 --> 13:56.200 They want to be able to reassert prohibition. 13:56.200 --> 13:59.880 They want 502 to fail. 13:59.880 --> 14:03.120 You have a wonderful leader and Senator Jeanne Colwell. 14:03.120 --> 14:09.640 502 is perfectly consistent with a separate licensing system for medical marijuana. 14:09.640 --> 14:14.160 Whatever remedies are fashioned in the legislature, work with your legislators. 14:14.160 --> 14:16.440 Work with Senator Colwell. 14:16.440 --> 14:21.540 The city of Seattle has said very clearly, we simply want a state license. 14:21.540 --> 14:24.740 It doesn't have to be a 502 license. 14:24.740 --> 14:27.900 It can be a state license that's for medical marijuana. 14:27.900 --> 14:31.240 But in the meantime, I want to close with this, and I appreciate that the speakers were 14:31.240 --> 14:37.480 all asked to be pretty short and to the point, because it is so critically important that 14:37.480 --> 14:42.080 everyone remember the enemy is prohibition, and what we should be doing is going at that 14:42.080 --> 14:44.240 enemy on the united fronts. 14:44.240 --> 14:49.000 And so if the medical community can at the same time work with the legislature to see 14:49.000 --> 14:55.040 what kinds of licensing and regulations would be appropriate for the medical marijuana industry, 14:55.040 --> 15:01.280 at the same time, all of you authorized users, everyone that is a designated provider, look 15:01.280 --> 15:03.600 at a 502 license. 15:03.600 --> 15:06.560 We need to get medical facilities licensed, too. 15:06.560 --> 15:12.560 502 is perfectly compatible with a dedicated marijuana supply system. 15:12.560 --> 15:13.600 Look into that. 15:13.600 --> 15:14.860 Look into your options. 15:14.860 --> 15:17.240 Don't be shut out. 15:17.240 --> 15:21.000 We have asked the city of Seattle has asked that the Liquor Control Board give medical 15:21.000 --> 15:23.200 marijuana preference in licensing. 15:23.200 --> 15:28.040 We know that they have far too few licenses designated across the state and especially 15:28.040 --> 15:29.400 in the city of Seattle. 15:29.400 --> 15:33.160 We're going to continue fighting to make sure that we meet both recreational and medical 15:33.160 --> 15:34.280 demand. 15:34.280 --> 15:39.440 And it is so important that no one in this room leave thinking that prohibition is a 15:39.440 --> 15:40.840 thing of the past. 15:40.840 --> 15:42.760 It is clamoring to come back. 15:42.760 --> 15:45.120 It is looking for division in the community. 15:45.120 --> 15:48.240 And unless we all pull together, they will get their wish. 15:48.240 --> 15:50.280 They will get the wish in the new year. 15:50.280 --> 15:52.000 So let's all pull together. 15:52.000 --> 15:54.520 Let's recognize the new freedoms that we struck. 15:54.520 --> 15:59.120 And thank you for all of your efforts, all of the work that has been built upon all of 15:59.120 --> 16:02.180 your decades, your decades of activism. 16:02.180 --> 16:03.520 And let's not stop now. 16:03.520 --> 16:04.520 Thanks. 16:04.520 --> 16:05.520 Hello. 16:05.520 --> 16:06.520 Thank you. 16:06.520 --> 16:07.520 Thank you. 16:07.520 --> 16:13.480 Please give me some patience with my crippled voice. 16:13.480 --> 16:17.760 I was in a motorcycle crash 26 years ago. 16:17.760 --> 16:20.200 And I didn't know why that happened. 16:20.200 --> 16:25.240 A lot of people told me that God saved me for a reason. 16:25.240 --> 16:30.320 And I didn't know what that reason was for about 10 years. 16:30.320 --> 16:36.400 And about 10 years after that, I was arrested for growing medical marijuana in my home. 16:36.400 --> 16:39.520 And I realized what my life mission was. 16:39.520 --> 16:40.960 I've had no choice. 16:40.960 --> 16:47.600 I need medical marijuana to survive and to be a functioning human being. 16:47.600 --> 16:49.800 And we all know the value of medical marijuana. 16:49.800 --> 16:53.080 But I've been living this for a long time. 16:53.080 --> 16:57.040 I was first arrested for growing in 1996. 16:57.040 --> 17:05.000 I went through two years of legal battles and the first medical necessity trial in Seattle. 17:05.000 --> 17:13.200 In 1997, after I proved the value of medical marijuana in court, they still wanted to put 17:13.200 --> 17:15.600 me in jail for 90 days. 17:15.600 --> 17:16.600 Okay? 17:16.600 --> 17:18.360 But I was freed. 17:18.360 --> 17:21.800 I was freed by public outcry. 17:21.800 --> 17:25.080 That is a very important lesson that we should all remember. 17:25.080 --> 17:26.660 We have the power. 17:26.660 --> 17:29.760 The power of the people, the power of the voice. 17:29.760 --> 17:30.760 Stand up for your rights. 17:30.760 --> 17:31.760 This is the time. 17:31.760 --> 17:33.760 It's a very important lesson. 17:33.760 --> 17:47.920 As Al Gore pointed out, the Chinese word for crisis also means opportunity. 17:47.920 --> 17:52.040 It's another big lesson we've got to remember. 17:52.040 --> 17:57.880 My doctor filed the Medical Use Act of 1998. 17:57.880 --> 18:01.720 I founded the Lifevine Collective in 1999. 18:01.720 --> 18:14.400 And we've been patients helping patients ever since. 18:14.400 --> 18:17.280 Some of you may know my friend, Elena. 18:17.280 --> 18:19.040 She built websites. 18:19.040 --> 18:24.360 She helped me manage Lifevine in recent years. 18:24.360 --> 18:32.680 We didn't know why she was so sick until she was diagnosed with cancer last year. 18:32.680 --> 18:38.520 We had a lot of marijuana plants growing in our house because patients need a lot of medicine, 18:38.520 --> 18:42.520 especially to fight cancer. 18:42.520 --> 18:55.160 The government does not want us to know that cannabis fights cancer. 18:55.160 --> 18:59.880 Earlier this year, the National Institute for Health released a paper on their website 18:59.880 --> 19:07.480 that noted several studies that demonstrate how cannabis fights tumor development. 19:07.480 --> 19:14.040 That paper was quickly edited to say that cannabis provides only symptomatic relief 19:14.040 --> 19:17.040 for cannabis patients. 19:17.040 --> 19:25.680 But you can still find references to the science for medical marijuana at cannabismedicaldictionary.com. 19:25.680 --> 19:31.080 There's a lot of research out there. 19:31.080 --> 19:37.000 Making oils and other concentrated cannabis medicines requires a lot more marijuana than 19:37.000 --> 19:40.120 most people understand. 19:40.120 --> 19:47.160 We had the same amount, 134 plants, at Elena's house last year. 19:47.160 --> 19:52.400 Police raided her home the day before Thanksgiving. 19:52.400 --> 19:56.080 They stole almost all of our medicine. 19:56.080 --> 20:02.760 They tried to charge me for that, but they had to give up because I had a strong attorney. 20:02.760 --> 20:07.880 However, they did not return the medicine. 20:07.880 --> 20:10.880 Tremendous loss. 20:10.880 --> 20:17.640 Elena has been suffering without the medicine that might have saved her life for more than 20:17.640 --> 20:18.640 a year. 20:18.640 --> 20:21.880 She is really dying now. 20:21.880 --> 20:24.640 She stopped eating last week. 20:24.640 --> 20:31.320 She will probably not see Christmas. 20:31.320 --> 20:35.960 She might have been saved, but the police destroyed her garden. 20:35.960 --> 20:40.520 I've spent huge amounts of money trying to give her the medicine that might help her, 20:40.520 --> 20:44.200 but it's not been enough. 20:44.200 --> 20:47.800 This is not a political campaign. 20:47.800 --> 20:57.240 This movement for medical cannabis is about life and death. 20:57.240 --> 21:04.520 I have one more thing to say, the Lifevine motto has been Patience Helping Patience since 21:04.520 --> 21:07.600 before it was legal. 21:07.600 --> 21:17.360 The Lifevine collective is not going to shut down no matter what the law says. 21:17.360 --> 21:18.360 Thank you all for coming. 21:18.360 --> 21:19.360 Please make a phone call. 21:19.360 --> 21:33.960 Thank you to everybody for being here, no matter what your position is, no matter what 21:33.960 --> 21:34.960 you think of me. 21:34.960 --> 21:37.000 I'm going to take just a minute. 21:37.000 --> 21:41.440 For those of you who are newer faces, younger people, you probably don't realize that I'm 21:41.440 --> 21:45.160 probably older than a lot of you here, but I want to give you a little bit of my background 21:45.160 --> 21:46.160 personally. 21:46.160 --> 21:47.160 A lot of you have never met me. 21:47.160 --> 21:48.520 You've never talked to me. 21:48.520 --> 21:53.160 You've heard a lot about me from other people, but you don't actually know what's true. 21:53.160 --> 21:57.680 I started defending medical marijuana patients back in 1995 when I went to work for Jeff 21:57.680 --> 21:58.800 Steinborn. 21:58.800 --> 22:03.640 I was a little shocked to see Martin Martinez say in the Seattle PI last month that Jeff 22:03.640 --> 22:07.400 was the one who defended him when actually it was me, Martin, who took your case to trial. 22:07.400 --> 22:14.320 It was me who got, thank you, who got at least eight of the 12 people. 22:14.320 --> 22:18.120 We didn't get them all, but we got eight of the 12 people to agree that his 88 plants 22:18.120 --> 22:21.240 that he was growing in his home were for his own personal use. 22:21.240 --> 22:28.280 I have represented providers who were threatened with federal prosecution if they didn't plead 22:28.280 --> 22:31.160 guilty to felony charges in state court. 22:31.160 --> 22:36.040 Those providers had to plead guilty on the day that their patient died because the patient's 22:36.040 --> 22:37.920 cannabis had been cut off. 22:37.920 --> 22:44.160 I have represented patients, providers, and commercial growers, smugglers from Canada, 22:44.160 --> 22:45.920 dealers, users. 22:45.920 --> 22:51.240 I was representing people charged with marijuana crimes, people who had their assets taken 22:51.240 --> 22:56.640 from the government for over a decade before going to work for the ACLU. 22:56.640 --> 23:02.440 I know what compassion looks like, but I also have a bullsh-t meter that has been finely 23:02.440 --> 23:07.000 honed by representing all the people that I've represented in the cannabis community. 23:07.000 --> 23:08.880 That's where I'm coming from. 23:08.880 --> 23:13.260 I also have a really strong record of being an effective advocate. 23:13.260 --> 23:17.440 You may hate me, but you can't ignore that when I started working with Senator Jeanne 23:17.440 --> 23:22.440 Colwell in 2007, we were able to start getting medical marijuana legislation passed in the 23:22.440 --> 23:23.440 legislature. 23:23.440 --> 23:33.000 I served on the I-75 panel, and I was actually able to sit down one-on-one with our former 23:33.000 --> 23:38.280 Seattle City attorney Tom Carr and get a consensus report published that all 11 members of the 23:38.280 --> 23:41.680 panel agreed to, which said, hey, the sky didn't fall. 23:41.680 --> 23:43.720 And then of course there's 502. 23:43.720 --> 23:48.720 So I tell you all that not to say believe what I say or agree with what I say, but to 23:48.720 --> 23:52.520 at least acknowledge I know a little something about being an effective advocate. 23:52.520 --> 23:57.080 And I'm here, honestly, to give you my take on what you need to be thinking about if you 23:57.080 --> 24:01.680 want to be as effective as possible going into the 2014 session to talk about medical 24:01.680 --> 24:03.000 cannabis. 24:03.000 --> 24:06.720 The volunteers from NORML did me a huge favor and said they would pass out materials. 24:06.720 --> 24:10.460 I brought materials for you today because my comments need to be very short. 24:10.460 --> 24:14.260 In those materials are a couple of things that I think it's important for you to say. 24:14.260 --> 24:19.600 First of all, it's the actual backgrounder from the I-502 that says what we said about 24:19.600 --> 24:22.260 the medical marijuana law during the campaign. 24:22.260 --> 24:23.360 It was in writing. 24:23.360 --> 24:24.360 It's still on the website. 24:24.360 --> 24:27.180 I want you to have that so you can see what we were actually saying. 24:27.180 --> 24:31.600 The second thing that is in there is what we actually said, what the ACLU of Washington 24:31.600 --> 24:36.360 actually said to the Liquor Control Board about its draft recommendations, which is 24:36.360 --> 24:42.840 first and foremost, protect what Initiative 692 protected, which is patients growing for 24:42.840 --> 24:49.080 themselves and being able to defend themselves in court no matter how much marijuana they 24:49.080 --> 24:50.080 possess. 24:50.080 --> 24:54.080 Those are the two core protections that our medical marijuana law actually delivered. 24:54.080 --> 24:58.520 And in that letter, it's a long seven-page letter, you will see the actual history of 24:58.520 --> 25:02.480 the evolution of our medical marijuana law and what is actually legal now and what's 25:02.480 --> 25:03.480 not. 25:03.480 --> 25:07.520 The third thing that's in there is the actual final draft recommendations from the Liquor 25:07.520 --> 25:08.520 Control Board. 25:08.520 --> 25:12.560 That's available online, but I wanted to make sure that you saw what the final recommendations 25:12.560 --> 25:15.200 from the Liquor Control Board were to the legislature. 25:15.200 --> 25:19.080 And finally, there's a one-pager on the top that are my suggestions for what you ought 25:19.080 --> 25:23.120 to be doing when you're thinking about talking about medical marijuana to legislators and 25:23.120 --> 25:26.280 other policymakers in the upcoming session. 25:26.280 --> 25:30.780 First and foremost, focus on the basic patient rights. 25:30.780 --> 25:35.160 Those are the rights to grow for oneself so that you can grow whatever strains you want 25:35.160 --> 25:37.940 or to designate a provider to grow for you. 25:37.940 --> 25:38.940 Focus on that. 25:38.940 --> 25:40.760 Patients need to be able to grow their own medicine. 25:40.760 --> 25:44.080 And second, they need to be able to defend themselves in court regardless of how much 25:44.080 --> 25:46.080 marijuana they possess. 25:46.080 --> 25:49.640 That is what our medical marijuana allows at its core. 25:49.640 --> 25:57.960 Second, recognize that engaging in commercial activity is very different from protecting 25:57.960 --> 26:00.240 patient rights. 26:00.240 --> 26:02.520 That is the key. 26:02.520 --> 26:07.440 I want to tell all of you right now that if you think the debate in the upcoming session 26:07.440 --> 26:11.480 is about medical versus recreational, you are missing the boat. 26:11.480 --> 26:16.140 What the debate is about is whether or not people are going to continue to be allowed 26:16.140 --> 26:20.760 to engage in commercial activity with no license, no regulation. 26:20.760 --> 26:25.120 And yes, they want to know whether or not you should be able to be required to pay taxes. 26:25.120 --> 26:27.540 That's going to be part of the conversation because guess what? 26:27.540 --> 26:30.220 If you're in business, that is part of the conversation. 26:30.220 --> 26:32.480 No matter what your business is. 26:32.480 --> 26:41.320 Third, think through what is really different about cannabis that's intended primarily for 26:41.320 --> 26:45.640 medical use and cannabis that's intended primarily for non-medical use. 26:45.640 --> 26:51.920 Think about what those differences actually are and whether or not those differences require 26:51.920 --> 26:57.420 laws to explain that difference or if it's really a matter of public education and marketing. 26:57.420 --> 27:02.600 For an example, if I'm drinking a glass of red wine every day for my heart health, is 27:02.600 --> 27:07.560 the wine any different if I'm drinking it because it makes my lasagna taste better? 27:07.560 --> 27:12.600 Those are the questions that people that aren't in the medical cannabis community have. 27:12.600 --> 27:14.780 What's the difference between the two? 27:14.780 --> 27:18.680 So focus on that and be able to explain that and articulate that. 27:18.680 --> 27:25.040 Also, a lot of you aren't understanding that if your cannabis product has less than three 27:25.040 --> 27:29.720 tenths of one percent THC in it, it's not defined as marijuana under our Washington 27:29.720 --> 27:31.280 state law anymore. 27:31.280 --> 27:38.240 What that means is you can sell those products anywhere but an I-502 store. 27:38.240 --> 27:43.400 So if you've got your high CBD products that don't have THC in them, then why aren't you 27:43.400 --> 27:48.840 talking to your neighborhood co-op, herbalist, homeopathic store, your gas station? 27:48.840 --> 27:50.400 They can be sold anywhere. 27:50.400 --> 27:56.640 An outfitter is selling products that have cannabis in them that has no THC. 27:56.640 --> 27:58.800 You could be doing that now. 27:58.800 --> 28:03.660 If you're worried about, I know, talk to your lawyer, maybe they don't get it. 28:03.660 --> 28:07.880 If you're worried about the prices, and that's a lot of what I hear, here's a few things 28:07.880 --> 28:12.400 and you'll get this in the fact sheet and I'm happy to email the fact sheet to anybody. 28:12.400 --> 28:14.720 Understand that the tax is not 75 percent. 28:14.720 --> 28:20.520 It winds up with even retail sales tax being included as about 30 to 40 percent of the 28:20.520 --> 28:21.520 total tax. 28:21.520 --> 28:22.520 So understand that piece. 28:22.520 --> 28:29.360 Also, understand and acknowledge that current prices still include a prohibition risk premium. 28:29.360 --> 28:33.640 They're still higher than they're going to be in a legal competitive market. 28:33.640 --> 28:38.480 And if you really care about patients, focus on what is going to be the price that patients 28:38.480 --> 28:40.600 are going to pay, with or without the tax. 28:40.600 --> 28:44.920 If you want to argue tax exemption, like Alex said, that's great, but you better explain 28:44.920 --> 28:49.760 to legislators that that tax exemption is going to benefit the patients and not you. 28:49.760 --> 28:57.840 In other words, your prices are going to be 30 to 40 percent cheaper than the 502 prices. 28:57.840 --> 29:03.000 Otherwise, my bullsh-t meter goes off and I say, you just want to pocket the tax that 29:03.000 --> 29:05.040 everyone else has to pay. 29:05.040 --> 29:07.440 All right? 29:07.440 --> 29:12.640 Finally, do, and I think this is, hopefully this is coming through in all of my remarks, 29:12.640 --> 29:18.560 do yourself a favor when you're talking to lawmakers and don't try to play the victim. 29:18.560 --> 29:23.840 I have heard frequently it wasn't our fault that the governor vetoed Senate Bill 5073 29:23.840 --> 29:27.000 and we don't have regulation of dispensaries. 29:27.000 --> 29:28.000 You're right. 29:28.000 --> 29:29.000 It wasn't your fault. 29:29.000 --> 29:32.680 However, you're responsible for opening a dispensary after the veto. 29:32.680 --> 29:34.000 It was a known risk. 29:34.000 --> 29:38.000 You decided to go into business despite the fact that the governor vetoed the licensing 29:38.000 --> 29:39.520 and regulation of that business. 29:39.520 --> 29:45.920 In fact, Senator Cole Wells introduced a bill 10 days after the veto that would have limited 29:45.920 --> 29:50.680 collective gardens to one per parcel and would have made it so that this collective garden 29:50.680 --> 29:55.480 safe access point business would clearly not have been legal. 29:55.480 --> 29:59.960 Nobody thought that collective gardens were supposed to replace dispensaries. 29:59.960 --> 30:03.600 Just acknowledge you made the decision you wanted to go into business. 30:03.600 --> 30:08.880 Now you need to have a conversation as a professional, totally separate from patients need to be 30:08.880 --> 30:10.360 able to grow for themselves. 30:10.360 --> 30:12.640 But keep that distinction in mind. 30:12.640 --> 30:15.800 There's business and there's compassion. 30:15.800 --> 30:19.600 In a good setting, they match up, but you need to be clear that it is two different 30:19.600 --> 30:21.080 things that you're talking about. 30:21.080 --> 30:22.080 Thank you very much. 30:22.080 --> 30:28.400 I appreciate it. 30:28.400 --> 30:36.560 Quick background, Los Angeles County paramedic, bachelor's degree in cell and molecular biology, 30:36.560 --> 30:42.800 naturopathic doctorate degree from Bastyr, post-doctorate in functional medicine, and 30:42.800 --> 30:49.440 I've been practicing functional naturopathic endocrinology for seven years in Seattle. 30:49.440 --> 30:55.320 I really only rattle off all that educational background, one, to lend credibility, but 30:55.320 --> 31:03.600 two, to let you know that with all that education, it wasn't until 2011 that I even understood 31:03.600 --> 31:07.480 anything medicinally about cannabis. 31:07.480 --> 31:10.320 I had no recreational perspective. 31:10.320 --> 31:13.560 I was not trained at Bastyr in cannabis. 31:13.560 --> 31:22.520 My board exams did not include cannabis, sativa or indica, although 150 other herbs, and I'm 31:22.520 --> 31:25.240 not a medical patient. 31:25.240 --> 31:33.400 The seed was planted in 2010 when naturopathic physicians were able to be practitioners added 31:33.400 --> 31:40.280 to the list of being able to authorize for the use of medicinal cannabis. 31:40.280 --> 31:47.180 This was actually during the busiest time of my practice, and I didn't even consider 31:47.180 --> 31:50.960 it for about a year and a half. 31:50.960 --> 32:00.360 And then in 2011, I was given the opportunity to work at a clinic doing patient authorizations. 32:00.360 --> 32:05.540 It was at that time that I jumped in 100%. 32:05.540 --> 32:12.480 It was only two weeks of hearing the stories of patients that I knew this was something 32:12.480 --> 32:15.960 big, something much larger than myself. 32:15.960 --> 32:19.720 I needed to understand this plant completely. 32:19.720 --> 32:23.640 I took on hundreds of hours of self-study. 32:23.640 --> 32:28.280 I studied thick biochemical books of cannabis. 32:28.280 --> 32:31.280 I scoured the medical literature. 32:31.280 --> 32:37.080 I listened to lectures of prominent physicians and researchers about cannabis. 32:37.080 --> 32:44.900 I gave each and every patient in the room my best, 20 to 40 minutes in the room. 32:44.900 --> 32:53.780 I sifted through files, and I'm not kidding, file boxes of medical files, four to five 32:53.780 --> 32:58.280 inches thick of medical records. 32:58.280 --> 33:03.600 I'd offer two to five other treatments in the room other than cannabis based on the 33:03.600 --> 33:07.560 condition that they came to me for. 33:07.560 --> 33:13.080 I stuck to the list of qualifiable conditions, even though as a doctor, I truly believe that 33:13.080 --> 33:16.640 list falls short in our state of Washington. 33:16.640 --> 33:24.240 I've seen patients from the age of 18 to 92 comforting them as they cry both in pain and 33:24.240 --> 33:30.080 in desperation, not wanting to get high, but just wanting relief. 33:30.080 --> 33:35.320 Many have never even tried cannabis recreationally. 33:35.320 --> 33:44.080 Wheel bound patients, double prosthetic limbs, IED blasts, severe motor vehicle accidents, 33:44.080 --> 33:51.320 broken backs, farming accidents, bodies with more pens, rods, and screws than I care to 33:51.320 --> 33:59.480 mention, seizures, cancer, cancer, cancer. 33:59.480 --> 34:05.560 I documented each patient's journey meticulously in the medical record. 34:05.560 --> 34:08.800 It's the very least that I could do. 34:08.800 --> 34:12.880 And most importantly, I documented your words. 34:12.880 --> 34:15.640 Cannabis has saved my life. 34:15.640 --> 34:21.000 I can't wait to tell you how much better I'm doing this year as they return beaming for 34:21.000 --> 34:23.080 a follow-up appointment. 34:23.080 --> 34:29.760 I'm back to work after two years of my wife being a sole provider, and I've lost 80 pounds. 34:29.760 --> 34:32.640 Yes, I hardly recognize you. 34:32.640 --> 34:37.640 I'm leaving the house again after being housebound for years. 34:37.640 --> 34:41.640 I'm off blank pharmaceutical drugs this year. 34:41.640 --> 34:44.960 I can tell you that it's usually two to five. 34:44.960 --> 34:49.480 This has been documented, documented, documented. 34:49.480 --> 34:55.220 My advanced stage prostate cancer is 98% gone. 34:55.220 --> 34:59.040 My urologist has never seen anything like it. 34:59.040 --> 35:02.700 This was 40% CBD oil. 35:02.700 --> 35:07.100 Thank you for those who are making this miraculous medicine. 35:07.100 --> 35:11.200 I just want to end with a few statements and opinions. 35:11.200 --> 35:17.520 I believe recreational users are a completely different group from medical patients. 35:17.520 --> 35:23.820 We need to maintain a safe and separate system that doesn't hurt anyone. 35:23.820 --> 35:26.120 The sign says it all. 35:26.120 --> 35:33.480 Patients need affordable, tested, pure, free of contaminants medicine. 35:33.480 --> 35:38.320 I consider the doctor-patient relationship sacred. 35:38.320 --> 35:42.120 What goes on in the room is between us. 35:42.120 --> 35:46.860 In my opinion, we need to retain collective gardens and home grows. 35:46.860 --> 35:53.520 We need to allow people to be compassionate caregivers. 35:53.520 --> 35:56.260 People should be allowed to help people. 35:56.260 --> 36:00.640 This is our fundamental need as human beings. 36:00.640 --> 36:04.840 I'm living proof that cannabis heals. 36:04.840 --> 36:06.080 I'm standing up here today. 36:06.080 --> 36:08.920 I look healthy because I use cannabis. 36:08.920 --> 36:12.880 You can't see the metal plate that runs the length of my left leg that's holding my knee 36:12.880 --> 36:14.000 together. 36:14.000 --> 36:17.680 You can't see the nausea and vomiting that has caused me to lose 60 pounds in the last 36:17.680 --> 36:18.880 year. 36:18.880 --> 36:23.720 You can't see the insomnia that kept me up until 3 in the morning. 36:23.720 --> 36:28.480 Cannabis is what keeps me moving, active, and functional. 36:28.480 --> 36:32.680 You heard Senator Cole Wells tell you about what's waiting for us in Olympia. 36:32.680 --> 36:34.920 Allison Holcomb confirmed that. 36:34.920 --> 36:40.200 They are looking to repeal our medical marijuana law potentially. 36:40.200 --> 36:43.840 It's not enough to say hell no and to say that we don't like it. 36:43.840 --> 36:49.920 We have to be able to clearly articulate what it is that we want from them. 36:49.920 --> 36:54.160 So I've gone around the state and I've been talking to stakeholders and I've been talking 36:54.160 --> 36:58.420 to a lot of you in this room to find out where our common ground is. 36:58.420 --> 37:00.480 We all want home grows. 37:00.480 --> 37:03.360 We all want cooperative cultivation. 37:03.360 --> 37:07.680 And we all believe that the affirmative defense, the cornerstone of our law that was passed 37:07.680 --> 37:13.400 in 1998, must stay in place no matter what. 37:13.400 --> 37:17.120 There shouldn't be any restrictions on the doctor patient relationship. 37:17.120 --> 37:21.280 Doctors need flexibility to modify their treatment plans based on their one-on-one relationships 37:21.280 --> 37:23.640 with individual patients. 37:23.640 --> 37:27.720 And we need civil protections just like any other prescription medication. 37:27.720 --> 37:31.680 Protections for organ transplants, protection for housing and employment, protections from 37:31.680 --> 37:39.520 court supervision, and PTSD needs to be added to the list. 37:39.520 --> 37:41.960 We don't need a registry. 37:41.960 --> 37:44.520 Cannabis is legal in this state. 37:44.520 --> 37:49.040 If you don't have to register to buy your marijuana from a store recreationally, then 37:49.040 --> 37:55.680 why would a patient have to register? 37:55.680 --> 38:00.220 And we do not tax medicine in this state. 38:00.220 --> 38:05.600 Just last week, cannabis was added to the American Herbal Pharmacopeia as an official 38:05.600 --> 38:11.640 botanical medicine. 38:11.640 --> 38:16.480 Just thanks to the work of our partners at Americans for Safe Access. 38:16.480 --> 38:20.240 And you know, it mirrors an exemption that we already have in law in this state, which 38:20.240 --> 38:26.360 says that any medicine, animal, botanical or mineral, that is recommended by a doctor, 38:26.360 --> 38:27.840 should not be taxed. 38:27.840 --> 38:31.040 Sales, use or excise. 38:31.040 --> 38:34.180 Cannabis is no different. 38:34.180 --> 38:38.880 And lastly, we want a licensing and regulatory framework just like 502. 38:38.880 --> 38:41.380 Our commercial businesses need some protection. 38:41.380 --> 38:43.760 They want licenses and they want regulations. 38:43.760 --> 38:49.280 80 of them in this state are paying taxes not because the law says they have to, because 38:49.280 --> 38:51.640 they want to. 38:51.640 --> 38:55.240 They deserve to have a licensing and regulatory framework. 38:55.240 --> 38:58.780 There's 300 of these businesses right here in the city of Seattle. 38:58.780 --> 39:04.240 And if we fold them all into 502, that's 300 businesses that aren't going to exist. 39:04.240 --> 39:08.320 I want you to think about all the commercial real estate that's currently occupied by cannabis 39:08.320 --> 39:11.600 businesses and imagine it vacant. 39:11.600 --> 39:15.880 That's what the legislature wants to do by forcing us into the 502 system. 39:15.880 --> 39:18.560 502 stores won't work for us. 39:18.560 --> 39:20.040 They don't exist. 39:20.040 --> 39:22.900 And when they do, they aren't going to have the products that we need. 39:22.900 --> 39:26.280 And certainly they're not going to be at the prices we can afford. 39:26.280 --> 39:32.040 But we can't afford to wait for the 502 stores to open and then fix this problem. 39:32.040 --> 39:37.080 The federal government has said that our medical marijuana program is untenable in light of 39:37.080 --> 39:39.040 the new coal memo that was issued. 39:39.040 --> 39:42.640 So while the rest of the states were talking about the coal memo giving us a green light 39:42.640 --> 39:47.400 to move forward with commercial production, our U.S. attorneys here in Washington said 39:47.400 --> 39:51.560 that that was an excuse to wipe out our medical marijuana program. 39:51.560 --> 39:54.920 And the cities and counties have said if the feds don't do it, they will. 39:54.920 --> 40:00.900 The city of Seattle has said you need a medical marijuana license by January 1st, 2015. 40:00.900 --> 40:03.380 That license does not exist right now. 40:03.380 --> 40:07.840 If we do not provide a regulatory framework for people to get those licenses, there will 40:07.840 --> 40:11.520 not be any access points in the city of Seattle. 40:11.520 --> 40:14.800 And that's why the legislature is taking action on this. 40:14.800 --> 40:15.880 And they are taking action. 40:15.880 --> 40:21.080 They didn't ask three state agencies to make recommendations so they could ignore those 40:21.080 --> 40:22.080 recommendations. 40:22.080 --> 40:25.520 They asked for recommendations because they're going to pass a law this year. 40:25.520 --> 40:30.020 So we better be able to, again, clearly articulate what it is we want from them and what it is 40:30.020 --> 40:38.600 that's wrong with what they're trying to do to us. 40:38.600 --> 40:39.920 Obviously freedom isn't free. 40:39.920 --> 40:42.120 We all have to fight for it. 40:42.120 --> 40:46.400 The Health Before Happy Hour campaign is a way for all of you to easily plug in and take 40:46.400 --> 40:47.560 action. 40:47.560 --> 40:51.460 It's already backed up by people like Americans for Safe Access, the Center for the Study 40:51.460 --> 40:56.000 of Cannabis and Social Policy, Coalition for Cannabis Standards and Ethics, and many, many 40:56.000 --> 40:57.000 others. 40:57.000 --> 41:02.360 And the vast majority of this community have said we cannot wait until 2015 for legislation. 41:02.360 --> 41:05.640 We want it now, in January. 41:05.640 --> 41:08.840 So if you want to learn more about that, you can go to healthbeforehappyhour.org. 41:08.840 --> 41:10.760 There's also flyers that are being handed out. 41:10.760 --> 41:14.320 They're at the tables at the front, and Melissa Heism has them back there. 41:14.320 --> 41:18.960 And lastly, join us at our fundraiser immediately following this event where you can also learn 41:18.960 --> 41:19.960 more. 41:19.960 --> 41:23.440 I brought with me today a plant ally. 41:23.440 --> 41:30.120 This is my tea tree oil, and I'm treating a fungus on my fingernail with it. 41:30.120 --> 41:35.200 I brought another plant ally because I heard that there's a horrible something or other 41:35.200 --> 41:38.080 going around up here in Seattle, and I'm living in San Diego now. 41:38.080 --> 41:39.900 I didn't want to get sick. 41:39.900 --> 41:42.560 And so this is called Stamets 7 Immune Support. 41:42.560 --> 41:44.880 It's made with mushrooms. 41:44.880 --> 41:48.240 Are we here today for any of these plants? 41:48.240 --> 41:49.240 No. 41:49.240 --> 41:50.840 Why not? 41:50.840 --> 41:54.760 That's a great question, because cannabis is a botanical medicine. 41:54.760 --> 41:59.920 And like Carrie just said, I was a liaison for Americans for Safe Access and worked with 41:59.920 --> 42:05.920 Roy Upton on producing the cannabis monograph, which has been adopted by the state of Washington. 42:05.920 --> 42:10.560 Looks like it's going to be adopted also by the state of Oregon to guide quality assurance 42:10.560 --> 42:12.140 and quality control. 42:12.140 --> 42:19.320 And what this has been is an effort to bring cannabis in as a botanical medicine. 42:19.320 --> 42:25.120 The botanical industry has worked a long time towards self-regulation, and this document 42:25.120 --> 42:33.160 is one of several that's being used to help the rest of the industry learn how to self-regulate. 42:33.160 --> 42:38.000 What I really wanted to say is that I'm here today because of a woman who walked into my 42:38.000 --> 42:42.880 office debilitating pain her entire life. 42:42.880 --> 42:48.480 She was making her own wine, is what she told me, drinking a bottle a day. 42:48.480 --> 42:51.240 She had agoraphobia, could hardly leave her house. 42:51.240 --> 42:57.720 I wrote her a cannabis recommendation, thanks to Senator Cole Wells, that she expanded the 42:57.720 --> 43:03.040 providers who could recommend cannabis to patients. 43:03.040 --> 43:08.440 This woman overcame a level of her agoraphobia, and she quit drinking a bottle a day of homemade 43:08.440 --> 43:14.640 wine, and I consider that significant impact on her health and quality of life. 43:14.640 --> 43:20.160 I'm here for another patient that was on about five or six different pain medications. 43:20.160 --> 43:24.760 She hadn't left her bed since giving birth a number of years previously, couldn't care 43:24.760 --> 43:31.000 for her family at all, quit cold turkey, these medications, started using cannabis, and is 43:31.000 --> 43:37.320 a fully functioning adult out of bed every morning, bouncing out of bed at 7 o'clock, 43:37.320 --> 43:39.240 running her household. 43:39.240 --> 43:44.160 I'm here because of a woman debilitated by multiple sclerosis and thereby addicted to 43:44.160 --> 43:50.240 benzodiazepines, and if anybody knows anything about benzodiazepine withdrawal, it's horrible. 43:50.240 --> 43:55.920 She's been able to significantly come off of that drug and onto a cannabis variety and 43:55.920 --> 43:59.360 live a more normal life than she had before. 43:59.360 --> 44:06.140 And finally, I'm here today because I've been the doctor to children, pediatric patients. 44:06.140 --> 44:08.260 This is what breaks my heart the most. 44:08.260 --> 44:12.920 As a doctor, I always thought I wanted to care for suffering people. 44:12.920 --> 44:17.400 And it's painful to watch people suffer and to watch your patients suffer. 44:17.400 --> 44:20.880 There are children that it's been stated, and we have a parent here today, that have 44:20.880 --> 44:28.560 been suffering from debilitating seizure disorders that cannabidiol-rich variety is helping. 44:28.560 --> 44:34.200 There are oncology pediatric patients that have a five-year-old patient. 44:34.200 --> 44:37.200 He's not directly in my care, but I've been in communication with his father. 44:37.200 --> 44:39.600 And this is what his father said. 44:39.600 --> 44:45.880 After administering my child so much poison, I can't explain how it feels knowing that 44:45.880 --> 44:49.160 I'm giving him something that's good for him. 44:49.160 --> 44:54.780 So we can't always clinically measure the effects of cannabis on somebody's life. 44:54.780 --> 44:57.800 What it means for some of these parents is that they sleep through the night for the 44:57.800 --> 45:00.140 first time in years. 45:00.140 --> 45:06.760 We don't value quality of life enough and the potential for this plant and many others 45:06.760 --> 45:12.000 to bring quality of life to human beings. 45:12.000 --> 45:16.840 So what all these patients have in common, and with many of you here in this room, is 45:16.840 --> 45:19.320 that they're not black marketeers. 45:19.320 --> 45:20.800 They're not gray marketeers. 45:20.800 --> 45:22.080 They're not marketeers at all. 45:22.080 --> 45:23.880 They're patients. 45:23.880 --> 45:29.080 And I agree with Alison Holcomb that the movement has largely piggybacked onto the medical patients 45:29.080 --> 45:31.220 movement. 45:31.220 --> 45:34.800 And now is not the time to throw these patients under the bus. 45:34.800 --> 45:37.720 So I-502 has confirmed what? 45:37.720 --> 45:41.200 That cannabis is for everybody, right? 45:41.200 --> 45:47.360 Anybody over the age of 21 or age of 21 and up can walk in a store and buy it. 45:47.360 --> 45:51.200 Is it really congruent to say that if you want to use it as a medicine, you have to 45:51.200 --> 45:56.520 go jump through a bunch of hurdles and live under a police state with your name on a registry? 45:56.520 --> 45:59.720 As a doctor, I see an incongruency there. 45:59.720 --> 46:04.600 I also see an incongruency that the money collected is going to go for studying it as 46:04.600 --> 46:08.680 a drug of addiction, which is the same stigma that's been imposed upon us by the federal 46:08.680 --> 46:10.240 government. 46:10.240 --> 46:17.320 It's time that we're able to study this as a therapeutic compound for our patients. 46:17.320 --> 46:22.780 Right on. 46:22.780 --> 46:26.280 So at the Center for the Study of Cannabis and Social Policy, we're looking at ways to 46:26.280 --> 46:32.700 implement an IRB, which is what you have to do to have a valid human clinical study. 46:32.700 --> 46:36.680 We're interested in the natural history of people using the natural plant and what's 46:36.680 --> 46:41.040 available to them in their own locality, just like we use many other plants. 46:41.040 --> 46:44.340 So we're all navigating these turbulent waters together. 46:44.340 --> 46:46.760 And I've just learned to surf since I've moved to San Diego. 46:46.760 --> 46:51.840 And sometimes you have a northwest well interfacing with the southwest well. 46:51.840 --> 46:55.860 And I'll tell you what, it's not easy to catch a ride on those waves. 46:55.860 --> 46:58.920 But we're on a wave and we've got to catch a ride. 46:58.920 --> 47:01.300 Washington has got to be a light here. 47:01.300 --> 47:03.560 And I think we've got the beginnings of it. 47:03.560 --> 47:05.720 Maybe there's a long tunnel to go through. 47:05.720 --> 47:09.240 But some of us are not the garden and some of us the weed. 47:09.240 --> 47:10.720 We're all a weed here. 47:10.720 --> 47:13.840 We're all here for a plant called cannabis and it's a weed. 47:13.840 --> 47:19.760 And anybody should be able to grow weed in their backyard. 47:19.760 --> 47:23.720 And in closing, I just wanted to, this Tom Waits lyric that I liked, it says, pin your 47:23.720 --> 47:28.980 ear to the wisdom post, pin your eye to the line, never let the weeds get higher than 47:28.980 --> 47:39.560 the garden and always keep a sapphire, always keep a diamond in your mind. 47:39.560 --> 47:44.840 Washington State Liquor Control Board wants to kill medical marijuana. 47:44.840 --> 47:47.400 This isn't thinly veiled contempt. 47:47.400 --> 47:50.020 They clearly want to put an end to it. 47:50.020 --> 47:56.000 And the new proposals are essentially making medical marijuana small enough so that they 47:56.000 --> 48:00.040 can drown it in a bathtub of three inches of water. 48:00.040 --> 48:01.620 And so what are we going to do? 48:01.620 --> 48:03.800 You have several different people coming up here. 48:03.800 --> 48:05.720 Each one has their own proposal. 48:05.720 --> 48:12.000 If you are looking for somebody on this stage to fix this problem, you have made a huge 48:12.000 --> 48:13.920 mistake. 48:13.920 --> 48:16.680 You are the community. 48:16.680 --> 48:19.260 You are the people that are going to stop this. 48:19.260 --> 48:23.200 If you do not rise to this occasion, then it will fail. 48:23.200 --> 48:26.800 They only have one person to listen to right now, Washington State Liquor Control Board. 48:26.800 --> 48:27.960 That is it. 48:27.960 --> 48:29.760 That's the only proposal on the table. 48:29.760 --> 48:32.000 Other people are coming up with other proposals. 48:32.000 --> 48:34.040 If you want to join them, fine. 48:34.040 --> 48:38.640 The truth is that as activists, we live in absolute truths. 48:38.640 --> 48:42.840 That means it's difficult for us to step out of our own shoes and look at the view of other 48:42.840 --> 48:47.720 people and try and incorporate those views to come to a conclusion. 48:47.720 --> 48:49.320 That's fine with me. 48:49.320 --> 48:50.320 That's fine. 48:50.320 --> 48:51.840 But do something. 48:51.840 --> 48:56.100 If you guys do not pick up the phone and call your legislators this session, one person 48:56.100 --> 48:57.680 represents about 100 people. 48:57.680 --> 49:01.080 100 people represents 1,000, so on and so on. 49:01.080 --> 49:06.080 If you do not pick up your phone and call your legislator this session, you're failing. 49:06.080 --> 49:07.080 You're failing. 49:07.080 --> 49:11.200 If you expect us to do it, this is only about 20, 25 people coming up to talk. 49:11.200 --> 49:12.400 It's not enough. 49:12.400 --> 49:14.000 It has to be all of you. 49:14.000 --> 49:18.620 I always, every opportunity I get where I speak publicly, I like to have everybody hold 49:18.620 --> 49:19.620 up their telephone. 49:19.620 --> 49:24.080 So if you brought your cell phone, and I know there's more cell phones than people in here, 49:24.080 --> 49:26.080 so hold up your cell phone for me. 49:26.080 --> 49:27.760 All right, good. 49:27.760 --> 49:29.440 That's enough people to make me happy. 49:29.440 --> 49:30.760 Now you can type in this number. 49:30.760 --> 49:31.760 Ready? 49:31.760 --> 49:39.160 360902, I'll go slow for those of you medicated. 49:39.160 --> 49:42.160 360902-4111. 49:42.160 --> 49:47.160 Did you guys get that? 49:47.160 --> 49:48.160 That's the governor's office. 49:48.160 --> 49:49.840 You guys give him a call. 49:49.840 --> 49:54.240 I can't give you his private cell, but please feel free to give him a call too. 49:54.240 --> 49:56.640 He's not in today, so wait till Monday. 49:56.640 --> 49:58.000 Make sure he hears from you guys. 49:58.000 --> 49:59.000 Let him know. 49:59.000 --> 50:02.280 Again, you guys represent the people that put him in office. 50:02.280 --> 50:06.600 And when you talk to your legislative assistants and you talk to your legislators, you remind 50:06.600 --> 50:12.280 them that medical marijuana, it pulls better than recreational marijuana, and it pulls 50:12.280 --> 50:15.280 better than Republicans, and it pulls better than Democrats. 50:15.280 --> 50:20.120 There have been a couple of people who have made reference to me so far today. 50:20.120 --> 50:22.720 My name is Ryan Day. 50:22.720 --> 50:25.120 I'm not really significant in of myself. 50:25.120 --> 50:27.240 The only reason I'm here is because of my son Hayden. 50:27.240 --> 50:29.400 Hayden is five years old. 50:29.400 --> 50:30.400 He has Dravet syndrome. 50:30.400 --> 50:34.280 It's a very rare and catastrophic form of epilepsy. 50:34.280 --> 50:39.080 And on a normal day, Hayden has over 100 seizures a day. 50:39.080 --> 50:44.520 We sit and we watch as he slowly has seizure after seizure after seizure and jerks himself 50:44.520 --> 50:45.520 to the ground. 50:45.520 --> 50:49.680 You know, we've been lucky so far that we haven't had to put him in a helmet, although 50:49.680 --> 50:53.400 we've had that suggestion made. 50:53.400 --> 50:57.280 I'm really lucky to be here to be able to tell you that about two and a half months 50:57.280 --> 51:00.760 ago, we started Hayden on CBD. 51:00.760 --> 51:09.160 We use a CBD extract from medical marijuana, and it has been miraculous. 51:09.160 --> 51:14.200 Hayden, on most days now, doesn't have any seizures that we can see. 51:14.200 --> 51:21.240 None that we can detect. 51:21.240 --> 51:26.360 Hayden had been developmentally stuck at about two years old for the last three years. 51:26.360 --> 51:29.440 He just turned five last month. 51:29.440 --> 51:31.320 Hayden is starting to develop again. 51:31.320 --> 51:33.000 He is starting to make connections. 51:33.000 --> 51:34.960 He is starting to use new words. 51:34.960 --> 51:36.600 He is starting to put words together. 51:36.600 --> 51:43.560 My son is coming out of his epileptic haze. 51:43.560 --> 51:46.520 And it's just been an amazing thing to see. 51:46.520 --> 51:51.320 And we started this, and I got my growing tent set up because there's no way we can 51:51.320 --> 51:55.080 afford this to buy at even dispensary prices. 51:55.080 --> 52:00.880 I mean, the fact of the matter is Hayden requires about an ounce a week in medicine, and at 52:00.880 --> 52:06.940 roughly $300 an ounce, it's over $10,000 a year that it would cost our family. 52:06.940 --> 52:10.760 You hear about families with medical insurance going bankrupt. 52:10.760 --> 52:12.060 That's a family like ours. 52:12.060 --> 52:18.400 We max out our copay every year, and we max it out on the credit card. 52:18.400 --> 52:19.960 So we need to grow. 52:19.960 --> 52:23.480 And I started growing, and suddenly I saw that the Liquor Control Board was threatening 52:23.480 --> 52:25.760 to take away that right to home grow. 52:25.760 --> 52:30.200 The only way that I could do this, I don't know how many of you are parents out there, 52:30.200 --> 52:35.600 but the fact of the matter is, legal or illegal, I'm going to do what I have to for my son. 52:35.600 --> 52:39.040 And that's very scary. 52:39.040 --> 52:43.120 And that's a decision that I hope I won't have to make. 52:43.120 --> 52:49.720 And I hope that our legislators will hear from patients like everybody here and stakeholders 52:49.720 --> 52:54.900 and say, we need to make sure that we have a reasonable policy in place. 52:54.900 --> 53:00.520 But I want to tell you also that I'm new to this entire culture. 53:00.520 --> 53:02.440 I've never done drugs in my life. 53:02.440 --> 53:04.040 I was a U.S. Marine. 53:04.040 --> 53:07.840 I was considered pretty ultra conservative in a lot of circles. 53:07.840 --> 53:11.760 But I'm here because I believe in this, and I believe that what you are all fighting for 53:11.760 --> 53:12.840 is right. 53:12.840 --> 53:16.920 But I also want to tell you that you need to really stop and think about how you're 53:16.920 --> 53:19.080 viewed by the other side. 53:19.080 --> 53:22.120 We need to work with them. 53:22.120 --> 53:24.000 We are a minority. 53:24.000 --> 53:25.900 We are not in the majority. 53:25.900 --> 53:31.720 And if people look at us as the tea party of medical marijuana, we're going to lose. 53:31.720 --> 53:32.720 Period. 53:32.720 --> 53:36.840 I actually work as a lobbyist and an advocacy professional. 53:36.840 --> 53:37.920 This is what I do for a living. 53:37.920 --> 53:40.880 And I'm telling you, we need to be reasonable. 53:40.880 --> 53:43.680 We do need to compromise sometimes. 53:43.680 --> 53:46.600 Not all the way, but we need to compromise sometimes. 53:46.600 --> 53:52.160 And we need to make sure that people don't see us as crazies that can be written off, 53:52.160 --> 53:58.200 that they see us as patients, they see us as caregivers, they see us as people who care. 53:58.200 --> 54:04.680 I want to tell you that Alex Cooley, who spoke here earlier, this man cares. 54:04.680 --> 54:07.600 He donates medicine to all sorts of people. 54:07.600 --> 54:09.640 My grow isn't started yet. 54:09.640 --> 54:14.880 But Alex donated medicine to my son so that we could start him on CBD and we would not 54:14.880 --> 54:20.080 lose another day to seizures. 54:20.080 --> 54:22.600 And he's not the only one. 54:22.600 --> 54:28.940 Dax at New Leaf, who's the maker of Dama oil, has donated medicine to dozens of families 54:28.940 --> 54:31.680 whose children have Dravet syndrome. 54:31.680 --> 54:37.840 There is a vibrant medical community of producers and processors and people who care. 54:37.840 --> 54:40.880 They're not growing marijuana and selling it to get rich. 54:40.880 --> 54:44.840 They're growing marijuana and selling it so they can afford to help people. 54:44.840 --> 54:47.260 And it's important that we don't lose them. 54:47.260 --> 54:52.600 We don't lose that community. 54:52.600 --> 54:57.560 Because when they go away, if they go away, all we're going to be left with, those are 54:57.560 --> 55:02.600 for-profit retail stores where it's only about turning the product and they're not going 55:02.600 --> 55:07.520 to care if they carry the product that's right for a little boy with seizures. 55:07.520 --> 55:10.760 They're going to carry a product that's going to turn the fastest and make them the most 55:10.760 --> 55:12.260 money. 55:12.260 --> 55:15.440 So I just hope that we can all work together. 55:15.440 --> 55:19.160 And you've heard people talk about unity and you've also heard people bashing each other 55:19.160 --> 55:20.760 up here. 55:20.760 --> 55:25.160 And you bash each other, you're weakening us, and we're going to lose. 55:25.160 --> 55:26.400 There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 55:26.400 --> 55:27.520 We will. 55:27.520 --> 55:29.440 So let's try. 55:29.440 --> 55:35.880 For little boys like my son Hayden, and for all the patients who are here who cannabis 55:35.880 --> 55:41.280 is saving their life because if we don't work together, we're all going to lose. 55:41.280 --> 55:44.480 Thank you. 55:44.480 --> 55:49.640 What will happen when we can provide cannabis in a quantifiable, highly bioavailable form 55:49.640 --> 55:51.980 with little to no toxicity issues? 55:51.980 --> 55:54.720 When we accomplish that, the federal government will listen to what we have to say because 55:54.720 --> 55:58.400 we're speaking their language, the language of science. 55:58.400 --> 56:01.880 We face a myriad of challenges in our pursuit of answers, the greatest challenge being the 56:01.880 --> 56:06.600 current legal suppression of research along with the social stigma attached to the psychoactive 56:06.600 --> 56:09.360 effects of THC. 56:09.360 --> 56:13.680 Our team at Cannabis Biosciences has been working to overcome the current limitations 56:13.680 --> 56:18.880 associated with the delivery of essential cannabinoids to the body, specifically providing 56:18.880 --> 56:24.560 antioxidants in the form the body recognizes at a highly bioavailable level. 56:24.560 --> 56:30.640 Low bioavailability in antioxidants produced in cannabis was a major obstacle to overcome. 56:30.640 --> 56:37.080 We surpassed this obstacle by utilizing revolutionary, patented technologies in our extraction process. 56:37.080 --> 56:42.160 This extraordinary science enables us to extract antioxidants found in cannabis in the nanoparticle 56:42.160 --> 56:43.600 size. 56:43.600 --> 56:48.480 When we can provide antioxidants in a nanoparticle form, it dramatically increases the scavenging 56:48.480 --> 56:53.320 of free radicals while decreasing the necessary dose required to be affected by many times 56:53.320 --> 56:58.480 the currently available products on the market, thus creating medicines that are smaller doses 56:58.480 --> 57:02.880 while being more effective at an affordable price for the public. 57:02.880 --> 57:08.320 The opportunity to deliver free radical scavenging is improved by nanoparticle antioxidants, 57:08.320 --> 57:15.360 giving us the ability to address debilitating illnesses such as cancer, viruses, and disorders. 57:15.360 --> 57:19.040 So when you pose the question to the Cannabis Bioscience team, is there room in Washington 57:19.040 --> 57:24.200 State for social and medicinal marijuana, we pose the question back, is there room for 57:24.200 --> 57:31.400 a stable, quantifiable botanical drug that meets FDA criteria in the state of Washington? 57:31.400 --> 57:32.400 We say yes. 57:32.400 --> 57:51.960 Yes, there is.